by Dr. Larry Grimm
When Admiral Byrd explored the Antarctic in the 1920’s, it is reported that he took along twelve straightjackets. Although there will be no straightjackets in the underground bunker, we know that there will be twelve people, forty feet underground, completely cutoff from the world, for the longest period of voluntary isolation ever recorded. And it will be tough!
What little psychological research exists on extreme isolation tends to show several stress reactions among the men and women. Depression, anxiety, irritability, paranoia, psychosomatic disorders, and sexual frustration are common. As the isolation continues, the problems intensify.
The Producers of Vault 12 asked me to provide profiles of each finalist. My goal was to screen out finalists who had marked psychological problems and who would be expected to have reactions so severe that they would be a risk to themselves or others. Some applicants were rejected on this basis. A second goal was to provide a personality profile for each person that could be used to establish the best mix of people who would create an interesting social dynamic to observe. This was not to be a scientific expedition where task completion and cooperation is paramount. After all, if twelve people were forced underground, one would not have the luxury of carefully selecting the most compatible people. For example, research has shown that people who are unsuited for expeditions in isolated environments have high needs for novelty and seek excitement. Virtually all of our finalists scored off the charts on the need for lots of excitement and new adventures! Not surprising; when you think about it, what kind of person volunteers to enter an underground bunker for a year, with the world watching? And we discovered something that you never find when assessing people for scientific expeditions. All of our finalists have an exhibitionistic side to their personality. They want to be noticed, they want attention, and they want to perform, whether on stage or in their day-to-day lives. Through virtually hundreds of hours of interviewing by the show’s Executive Producer, and through my interviews and psychological testing, the “perfect 12” have almost been selected.
Dr. Grimm signed onto the Vault project in 2009 as a consultant to ensure that Vault producers on a number of issues, including cast selection, identifying and minimizing risk factors, challenge creation and monitoring of cast member emotional status while in the Vault. He comes to The Vault project from the University of Illinios at Chicago where he serves as the Director of Graduate Studies and has an accomplished roster of published articles.